20180502 Tosohatchee WMA

My friend Arnold and I went to the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area on May 2, 2018. This area contains 43.75 square miles of wilderness. This place is so big the birds are not used to people so it's harder to photograph them there as they fly away before we can get close. So we took photos of less skittish subjects.

Subjects such as this flower are relatively easy to photograph (providing you don't over expose it) because it will only sway in the breeze, and not fly away before you can press the shutter button. I think this is a very pretty flower. Please let me know what it is if you know. Thanks.

This bumblebee has pollen all over him (assumption). The only clear areas on his body are his eyes. Yet he stops here to collect even more. I love the color of the thistle. I wish I had a car that color.

This bumblebee approaches a different kind of thistle, one that can grow six or seven feet tall. The bumblebee carries saddlebags of bright yellow pollen on its hind legs. I used to have friends who carried hip flasks instead.

Thistles attract many different insects. Just grab your camera, a long lens, extension tubes or a macro lens, and a chair, and set up a few feet away from a thistle and wait. You'll have a nice collection of interesting and perhaps strange insect photos within a couple hours.

Probably my best photo of the butterflies. I took the series with my 100-400mm lens and a 1.4x III extender which allows me to autofocus up to f/8. The extender also increases the maximum focal length of the lens from 400mm to 560mm. I also have a 2.0 II extender, but I must manually focus it, making it difficult to make sharp photos. The 1.4x version III works very well and is very clear. I'm happy.

This guy was close, so my camera's focal length was set at only 140mm. If you ever want to know date taken, camera settings, etc., just click the little white circle with the dark "i" in it in the lower right corner of your screen and you'll see the image info. Then click "X" to exit. Clicking the three boxes changes the image's size. Roll over the other icons to see what they do.

A big gator was lying in the water to stay cool. the smaller (not little) gator in front was lying on the sand and must have become warm. So it stood up (!) and walked (!) into the water. This guy has some fins missing from the end of his tail.

Success. Now we have a big gator and a BIG gator keeping a little cool in the river. Notice the BIG gator has no missing fins from his tail. I guess no one wants to mess with him. And I've read that females are smaller than males, so this may be a loving couple. You can't tell the alligator's gender without examining his or her genitalia. I'll leave that up to you.